I have a 2003 JDM Evo 8 GSR, completely stock. I made a post a few days ago and have some further information on the situation.

I had an idle issue where the car would idle high at around 2K rpm even when warm, replaced the IACV today which fixed the issue. Cleaned the maf, throttle body and replaced the plugs too.

Though Im still having an issue where when the car is warm, it will cold start fine and drive absolutely no issues, but then if I park the car and try to start it again it will not start, it will crank and kind of catch and then the started clicks abruptly and stops cranking until I try and crank it again. I then have to wait anywhere from 20-40 minutes before the car will start again and cycling the ignition doesn’t help, i have to wait.

Any ideas? The issue is becoming really inconvenient for me and I want to get it resolved before sending it to a specialist.

 

Is the car tuned? It kind of sounds like some weirdness in the tables that effect hot start to me.

Could also be a leaky injector, I had something like this happen with a civic I had back in the day.

 

Car is stock and I don’t think it’s been tuned, right now I suspect it is fuel related, maybe faulty coolant temp sensor or a bad fuel pressure regulator or bad fuel pump.

 

maybe its not cranking fast enough. set up a wire from the starter (or just from the pin5 of the starter relay) that you can tap to the (+) battery terminal when the engine is warm. this will give you maximum cranking speed. if that works then you might need to do that relay/rewire mod

 

I'd check the coolant temp sensors with evoscan, get the injectors cleaned and try the starter voltage mod Vicious mentioned. Those are all easy and should provide a lot of info.

 

I put a bottle of injector cleaner in and it didn’t make much difference, i know its not the same as having them cleaned but its the next best thing.

I will try the starter mod, if that fixes the issue will it mean a new starter? This could actually be the issue as whenever the issue presents itself when warm it wants to start but then the starter will click and stop and ill have to crank again. It has a small battery could it be that? Or a relay/switch thats heat soaking and not providing correct power to the starter?

 

The starter thing is something that has been sorted through bc Mitsubishi doesn't understand how current works apparently. If that does fix it, its probably not a starter but more so an issue with it getting consistent current. There is a whole thread dedicated to the rewiring effort to fix the poor design.

 

try it first. maybe get some of these so you can temporarily add another line and keep it close to the batt. turn the key to ON(press clutch or disconnect the plug if theres noone to help) and then tap the conductor to the batt terminal. I kept mine just in case, just dont pull it and end up disconnecting the starter side


The starter wiring design makes sure the driver has "full control" of the power to the starter. I guess there is a small chance the relay can stick and continue cranking after the driver turns the starter off. The mod sets up the relay to work like a normal relay which is to bring full power and with minimal terminals/contacts as possible. As for mitsubishi's design, like many things designed by engineers, yeah it works great on paper and atleast up to the warranty expiry date

 

hey now, we do what we can lol.

My guess is that this feel somewhere between the bean counters and being lazy. I went and looked, and this has ben their setup since the DSM days so it was likely copy-paste for years.

 

nah. those sayings about "good intentions" and "assumptions" is very human to me. we suck at this stuff lol. whats pestering me for years is the issue around sunroofs' water drainage. I dont think the engineers factored in parking under trees, or they didnt know trees drop things not just leaves

 

O man, sunroof drains are wild. All these years and they all still suck. It is incredible. How no one has sorted it out boggles my mind.

 

Star Wars nerds, man

 

Hey people, just a quick update:

I should have mentioned in the original post that the check engine light would occasionally appear and flash on and off but it only happened on 2 very brief occasions and with all the stress of the situation it slipped my mind (somehow..)

I took the car to my mechanic and they changed the cam angle sensor after finding a code for it, and it seems for now that the issue is solved, but im still kind of holding my breath waiting for it to happen again, knowing my luck.

Will update if the issue re appears but for now im happy.

tldr; it seemed to be the cam angle sensor

 

I've had this issue with Mitsus and it being the coil pack. Would explain your flashing CEL. If this comes back I'd have a look there.